Major fire averted at Chennai airport

Chennai: A major accident was averted when fire brigade personnel put out a blaze in a catering vehicle from which food items were being loaded on to a Hyderabad-bound Air India flight with 108 passengers onboard at the airport in Chennai today.

The incident took place around 6.30 PM at Bay No 29 when food items were being loaded onto the flight which came from Maldives, airport sources said.

Fire fighters reached the spot in three fire tenders after the ground staff alerted them about the fire in the catering vehicle, which was suspected to have been caused by petrol leak, they said.

The flight later left for Hyderabad, they said.

The Airport Director has ordered an inquiry into the incident, they said.